IBM Launches Connections Software for Social Business

IBM has expanded its social business initiative with the release of its new IBM Connections software, which Big Blue identifies as a social networking platform with real-time compliance capabilities.

IBM launched its social business strategy at the company s Lotusphere 2011 conference in February as a way to help its customers and partners leverage social networking and social paradigms to their benefit.

The new IBM Connections software allows organizations to track and trace data on the fly throughout their organizations. This information can be analyzed and is discoverable in real-time using the IBM Connections active compliance service versus waiting until day end for analysis, IBM officials said.

The adoption of social software is on the rise and rapidly becoming a vital business tool, enabling organizations to transform virtually every part of their business operations from marketing, customer service and sales, to product development and human resources. The market opportunity for social platforms is expected to grow by a factor of nearly two billion worldwide by 2014, according to IDC.

Moreover, Gartner recently said that "by the end of 2013, half of all companies will be forced to produce material from social media websites for e-discovery so enterprises need an overall governance strategy for all applications and information."

The new IBM Connections 3.01 software uses microblogs, wikis, communities and activities to collaborate with clients, partners and employees.